


Farewell, Hogwarts

by Isidar_Mithrim



Series: Marauders Era & Jily [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Brotherhood, Canon Compliant, Drabble, Drabble Sequence, F/M, Flash Fic, Friendship, Goodbyes, Graduation, Hogwarts, Hurt/Comfort, Last day at Hogwarts, Love, Missing Scene, Nostalgia, Pottermore, Short One Shot, The Great Lake | The Black Lake (Harry Potter), Time to be grown up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-07-10 19:14:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19910797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Isidar_Mithrim/pseuds/Isidar_Mithrim
Summary: End of term, 1978.For James, Sirius, Remus, Lily and Severus it’s time to say goodbye.They look at Hogwarts for what they believe is their last time, unaware that three of them will cross its gate again.Unaware that two of them won’t live much longer…





	Farewell, Hogwarts

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Addio, Hogwarts](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/500845) by Isidar Mithrim. 



> I had the idea for this story when JKR said she imagined the seventh year students going back to the train for the last time on the same boats the used the first time they arrived at Hogwarts.
> 
> I’m sorry I didn’t include Peter, but the inspiration for his farewell piece never came...

**James** casts a lingering last glance at the majestic castle of Hogwarts.

It was the final, nostalgic farewell to his happy boyhood, to the joy of Quidditch, to their ingenious mischiefs, the secret passages, the portraits’ complicity, the house elves’ delicacies.

He’s known for months, now, which fate awaits him.

He’s always been aware the war will taste pretty different far from the safety of the school walls, but for the first time he feels a rush of fear at the thought.

He stares at Sirius, on the boat with him, like in the reverse journey they’d made years ago.

He looks at Remus and Peter beside them, he searches for Lily on the near boat, and the thought that they’re firm points of his future it’s enough to make the fear fade away.

Because James is certain that, as long as they stand together, they can overcome any obstacle.

**

**Sirius** is ready.

Ready to fight.

Ready to suffer.

Ready to discredit the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black yet again, picking the _wrong side_.

He’s even ready to die, if for the right cause.

For an instant, though, a conniving, unexpected, unwelcome thought crosses his mind.

It’s just a moment, but looking at the castle for the last time, he can’t help wondering when – _if_ – he’ll ever meet Regulus again, and he very much hopes it won’t happen in battle.

Because he’s ready for anything, except to watch him die.

Except to watch _them_ die.

**

**Remus** barely spares a thought on the war, or about the part they’ll soon play in it as fresh members of the Order of the Phoenix.

He mainly lets his gaze wander onthe park, until he spots it far from the other trees, standing alone.

_The Whomping Willow._

He remembers the many, horrible nights his father had to close him in a locked room isolated with Silencing Spells, or the nights he’d smashed doors and windows despite the containment spells getting more powerful every time – the nights he’d spent alone with his excruciating, inhuman pain.

But then he remembers the other nights too, the ones spent running freely in the park – the best nights he’s ever had.

And all he dares to hope for is never having to give up the comfort provided by Padfoot, Wormtail and Prongs.

**

**Lily** picks the golden Head Girl badge off her robe, and then she stretches out her arm to throw it in the deepness of the Black Lake, along with her infinite gratitude towards the place where she’s found out who she really is.

It’s the last, painful legacy she can offer to the school that has made her the person she is now.

It’s the token by which she bid farewell to the reassuring borders of the castle wherein that badge had given her a role – had given her power.

None of this matters anymore, though, ‘cause she’s about to enter a world where only one title awaits her: _mudblood_.

It is, eventually, the due payment for a lost bet.

_I’ll throw my badge in the lake, if I’ll ever have fun being Head Girl with you, Potter!_

It’d been way more than fun.

*

**Severus** gets on the boat and doesn’t look back.

He’s never been good with goodbyes.

And it hurts, it hurts too much leaving forever the only place he’s ever called _home_.

An uncertain future lays in front of him, fueled only by the hope Mulciber’s father will consider him suitable to be presented to the Dark Lord, and that the most powerful wizard of his time will then welcome him in his inner circle, marking him with fire.

 _May be_ _one day I’ll feel at home there too_.

He sees a bright sparkle crossing the sky and vanishing into the lake.

He glances at the girl who’s thrown the golden badge, but before she can catch his gaze he hastily lowers his eyes upon his feet.

Then again, he’s never been good with goodbyes.

Only when he’ll go back to Hogwarts as professor Severus will see the truth.

The only place he’s ever called home is the place where he’d been with _her_.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading :D  
> Feel free to drop any feedback, suggestion, correction about the story or the translation, opinion about headcanons and so on ^^  
> You can also find me on [tumblr](https://isidar-mithrim.tumblr.com)


End file.
